Two uranium enrichment plants, a nuclear power station and an atomic defence installation all secretly removed and stored body parts of former workers, the Government admitted yesterday. Employees at Aldermaston, then the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Berkshire, and the uranium facilities at Capenhurst, Cheshire, and Springfields, Lancashire, had vital organs removed and sent for testing. The admission follows yesterday’s disclosure in The Times that Sellafield nuclear power station stored the hearts, lungs and other organs of at least 65 employees without telling their families. Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, has appointed Michael Redfern, QC, to lead an inquiry into the affair. Mr Redfern led the inquiry into the retention of infant body parts at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool seven years ago. Seven more dead workers from Aldermaston, Capenhurst and Springfields had vital organs removed, taking the total to 72. ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk

The man who shot dead 32 people at Virginia Tech took time out after committing the first two murders to post pictures and video to a national television network, police revealed yesterday. Korean-Born English student Cho Seung-Hui sent a CD-Rom containing video footage of himself reading out an 1,800-word profanity-laced tirade about " getting even" and 29 digital photographs of himself brandishing weapons, 11 of which show him pointing a gun at the camera. NBC Nightly News last night broadcasted excerpts of the video, in which Cho said: "You had a hundred billion chances and ways to avoid today. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off." The package helped answer one of the many mysteries surrounding Cho and his motives ­ why there was a two-hour time lag between the first two killings and the rest of them, which took place in a teaching building housing the engineering department....http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2461395.ece

When 53-year-old Tina Abdallah celebrated the fall of deceased former President Saddam Hussein in March 2003, she had no idea that her suffering had just begun. Four years on, the mother of two is desperate for news about her sons who have disappeared in separate incidents following the US-led invasion of 2003. "During Saddam's time, people were being arrested and sometimes families couldn't get any information about their loved ones. But the proposed democracy hasn't changed this reality. My two sons have disappeared and I can't get any information. I don't even know if they are dead," Tina said. "I have gone to NGOs, the Ministry of Human Rights and police departments looking for them but no one could help me. My last attempt was in the US-run prisons, but it was even harder to get to speak with someone there because of the huge number of people with the same problem as me," she added. Because of unrelenting violence hampering all efforts to collect data, the ...http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a8bd8caf93b030f08d3810f356c825da.htm

US efforts to subdue the insurgency in Baghdad suffered a setback yesterday when the Iraqi capital endured one of its most wretched days in four years of slaughter, with nearly 200 people killed and more than 200 injured in a volley of afternoon bomb attacks. Some of the capital's poorest and most densely populated areas once again confronted scenes of carnage and devastation as at least five large explosions detonated within a terrifying few hours. In the worst attack, a car bomb at a market in a Shia district killed at least 140 people, some of them labourers rebuilding the marketplace from a previous attack in February. The apparently coordinated onslaught, the deadliest in Baghdad since George Bush implemented his security surge two months ago, provided sobering punctuation to a declaration by Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, who announced that Iraqi forces would assume control of security in every Iraqi province by the end of the year. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2060587,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Deep in the belly of one of Hong Kong's largest malls, a mechanical stomach is digesting a social ill that is now catching the attention of this city's restaurateurs and environmentalists: too many leftovers. Elsewhere in the territory, restaurant owners are starting to sound like your mother. They are putting little signs on tables that threaten to fine diners who leave food on their plates. U.S. and European cities have wrestled with excess food waste for more than a decade, but Hong Kong's prosperity and shrinking landfill space are only now pushing it to adopt a new consumption ethic. Neither the "GoMixer" beneath the Festival Walk Mall, nor the prospect of punishment, has had much impact yet. But they are signs of things to come. In the past five years the amount of food wasted by Hong Kong's restaurants, hotels, and food manufacturers has more than doubled, according to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/18/world/main2698885.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2698885

Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed 183 people — the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago. The most devastating blast struck the Sadriyah market as workers were leaving for the day, charring a lineup of minibuses that came to pick them up. At least 127 people were killed and 148 wounded, including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead. Wednesday's car bombing appeared meticulously planned. It took place at a pedestrian entrance where tall concrete barriers had been erected after the earlier attack. It was the only way out of the compound, and the construction workers were widely known to leave at about 4 p.m. — the time of the bombing. One builder, 28-year-old Salih Mustafa, said he was waiting for a bus home when the bomb exploded. "I rushed with others to give a hand and help the victims," he said. ...http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-18-nitric-acid_N.htm?csp=34